118 ACROSS AFEICA. [Chap. 



August, Nassib, who promised tlieir assistance, and sent to acquaint the 

 ^^'^•^- governor of the occurrence, and to obtain his permission to act. 

 This resulted in the four men who commenced the trouble be- 

 ing captured and brought in the following morning in chains, 

 while the others made their humble submission. 



On the intercession of the ibn Nassibs, I reinstated the as- 

 kari, but punished the ringleaders by keeping them a fortnight 

 in chains. Bombay had acted most stupidly, and, indeed, dur- 

 ing our stay at Unyanyembe was generally drunk and useless ; 

 but he now promised reformation ; and as I hoped that he 

 really intended to do well, I did not punish him. 



Several attempts were made at starting from Unyanyembe, 

 but were unsuccessful, owing to the pagazi I engaged so con- 

 stantly deserting. They are always paid in advance, on being 

 engaged, according to custom, and at last it almost amounted to 

 pajdng a man, feeding him for a few days, and then seeing his 

 face no more. 



The unpleasantness of our situation may be judged by the 

 following extracts from letters sent home by Dillon and my- 

 self at this time. Writing on the 23d of August, Dillon, who 

 was usually blessed with buoyant spirits, commenced his letter : 



"Now for a dismal tale of woe! On or about (none of us 

 know the date correctly) August 13th, Cameron felt seedy. I 

 never felt better, ditto Murphy. In the evening we felt seedy. 

 I felt determined not to be sick. ' I will eat dinner ; I'll not 

 go to bed.' Murphy was between the blankets already. I did 

 manage some dinner; but shakes enough to bring an ordinary 

 house down came on, and I had to turn in. For the next four 

 or five days our diet was water or milk. Not a soul to look 

 after us. The servants knew not what to do, We got up 

 when we liked, and walked out. We knew that we felt giddy ; 

 that our legs would scarcely support us. I used to pay a visit 

 to Cameron, and he used to come in to me to make complaints. 

 One day he said, ' Tlie fellows have regularly blocked me in ; I 

 have no room to stir. The worst of it is, one of the legs of the 

 grand piano is always on my head, and people are strumming 

 away all day. It's all drawing-room furniture that they liave 

 blocked me in with.' I was under the impression that my bed 

 was on the top of a lot of ammunition panniers, and I told 



